Grain drill shoes



GRAINDRILL SHOES Filed June 24, 1957 United States Patent ice n nitentionrelates to aseed' planting shoe fon grain i Under the lmodern system. ofsub-surface, lilla@ andgthc, outr stubble and chaff,v are. lefron the surface lthe land to reduce water and' wind erosi'on'and.` to hessenA the. loss of moisture through evaporation. This sxstern. of stubble-mulch? tillage has accomplished' its` ohjeotiyesbut the surface debris has made it exceedingly. to plant. seed'.V Conventional drill shoes have4 a: surface flaring, ory spreading action which tends. to. pack the surface debris between adjacent shoes so that it'willl pile, drag and plug up.the, planter.

One of the objects of this invention drill shoe in which the ll'aringor spreading action will talee. place below the surface mulchwhere no debris-will byencountered, and which will pass. through the surface with very little disturbance ofl the latter.

Bresent drill shoes are also objectionable in that` they plowfl a; surface furrow into which. the. seed is dropped then fill and( pack this surface Afurrow with drysurfaoesearth.. Under dry farming conditions the dry surf' v earth. around the seed does noty containl suflicient moisture. to` uniformly germinatethe planted seeds..

vAnother object' of" this invention is to provide a drill shoe which will plow a sub-surface furrow in the moist underpan into which the seed is planted, and which will support the drier surface earth while filling this sub-surface furrow with the removed moist earth so as to completely surround the seed with moist earth before the drier surface earth is allowed to return to the furrow and contact the seed.

A further object is to provide a drill shoe which will not depend upon gravity for covering the seed with moist earth, but which will positively force the moist soil over the seed so that the drill may travel at any desired surface speed.

A still vfurther object is to provide a drill shoe which can be used for shallow planting in irrigated areas without leaving ridges or furrows in the field.

Other objects and advantages reside in the detail construction of the invention, which is designed for simplicity, economy, and efiiciency. These will become more apparent from the following description.

In the following detailed description of the invention, reference is had to the accompanying drawing which forms a part hereof. Like numerals refer to like parts in all views of the drawing and throughout the description.

In the drawing:

Fig. l is a side view of the improved seed drill shoe;

Fig. 2 is a rear view thereof;

Fig. 3 is a top view thereof;

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section looking downwardly on the hne 4-4, Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a front view thereof; and

Figs. 6, 7, and 8 are diagrammatic cross-sections through a ground furrow formed by the improved shoe, illustrating various stages of planting at a medium depth.

The improved shoe is built about a substantially vertiis to provide a Patented May 5, 1.959

2 cal, cylindricalseed. tube 10. The rear ofthe seedv tube l0 is. split. at its lower extremity to form a` seed discharge opening 1l, The, two,V sides of the split are ared, rear. wardly to forni sides 12- on the opening 11, and the lower extremity of the seed tube `1li isllattenedto form two iiat-L sideslf3y which act as smooth, parallel continuations ofthe openingsides 12,.

A. bracket. plate 1 4 is welded to,` and extendsl forwardly from, thev upper portion .ofy the seed tube 10'. The: bracket plate 14 is providedl with bolt holesy 15 and- 16 byy means of which. the improved shoe may be mounted upon. ai conventionalv grain drill*- so that the seedsto be planted, will: be dropped into the seed tubes 10. OneV ofthebol-tholes 15 provides a4 pivotal mounting, and theu other bolt hole 16A isg elongated to allow pivotal move-v ti about, the pivot hole' IS-,for verticall` adjustment of the seed tube 130.`

Two. vert-ical; parallel, spaced-apartl attachment ears- 11?]` are weldedor otherwise formed onl theY leading edge of: they lower, extremity of` ther seedtube 10i. Al renewabler plow point 18 is,.- secured in place' between the ears` 1=7 by meansA of a1 o ountersunk rivet 192 The pointJ 18` has; the shape of; a righttriangle, with-- its lower` point. directed forwardly, and increases in width asl its vertical middle ist# approached tof oo ver the forwardy edges ofi the ears-d'1. and substantially ali-gnl with the outer surfaces of: the latten;

A relatively detmold-board plate 201isfwelded=or other@ w-iser attached; toA each: side` of the seed.A tube 10 adjacent its,` lower extremity,. and;` thesemold-board plates' are spaced apartu ai distance equal` tothe outer diameter ofk the seed tube. 1,0, and., extend rearwardlyin parallel relation.

. The lower* edge1A of eachmold-board plate is.y turned^ outwardly: at` av downwardlyfinolined angle. The for ward= edge; ofi each outwardly turnedY portion.- inV inclined rearwardly and outwardly toform. a triangular, inclined shelf 21. The rear edge of each triangular shelf 241', indicated at 22, is turned vertically downward to form a vertical, triangular earth sweep 23. The lower edge of each earth sweep 23 is inclined downwardly and rearwardly, forming a continuation of the forward edge of the shelf 21 thereabove, and the rear edge of each triangular earth sweep 23 extends substantially vertical, forming a continuation of the rear edge of the moldboard plate 20 thereabove.

As the shoe is drawn forwardly in a field which has been subjected to stubble-mulch tillage, the flaring shelves will travel beneath the layer of surface debris so as not to disturb the latter. The seed tube 10 and the moldboard plates travel through the stubble-mulch with a minimum of drag and disturbance. Since the mold-board plates increase the width of the seed tube very little, if any, and since there is no aring or spreading action on the part of the mold-board plates, they add nothing to the drag or resistance to travel of the seed tube, and they do not act to pile debris between adjacent seed tubes.

For the purpose of illustrating the action of the irnproved shoe, cross-sections of a typical furrow have been indicated diagrammatically in Figs. 6, 7, and 8. In the latter figures the dry top soil (or stubble-mulch top soil) is indicated at 24 and the relatively moist subsoil at 25.

Let us assume the shoe is being drawn forwardly at a planting depth to place the seeds in the sub-soil 25. At the point indicated by the line A in Fig. 4 the plow point will have cut a llat-bottorned seed groove 26 in the subsoil and the flat sides 13 of the seed tube will have pressed the sides of the groove outwardly, and the sides of the seed tube will have pressed the dry soil outwardly to form a narrow furrow, as illustrated in Fig. 6, to receive the seed, indicated at 27. The earth forced from the furrow will form surface piles 28 at each side of the furrow, the size of the piles depending upon the depth of the furrow. Thesel piles and the dry top soil will be prevented from falling into the furrow by the parallel mold-board plates 20.

At the point indicated at the line B in Fig. 4, the relatively sharp forward edges of` the triangular shelves 21-v will have entered the sub-soil at each side of the seed groove 26 and above the seed 2,7 to act as a support for the loose dry soil 24, as illustrated in Fig. 7.

The two inwardly-flared, vertical, triangular earthsweeps 23 will now sweep the moist sub-soil, from beneath the s'helves 21, inwardly overthe seeds 27 to form a windrow 29 of moist sub-soil over they row of seeds, as illustrated in Fig. 8. As the windrow 29 of moist earth is formed over'the seeds, the inwardly inclined rear edges 22- of the shelves 21 gradually remove the support from theoverhanging loose dry soil 24, and the mold-board plates will remove the support from the furrow sides and from' the piles 28 so as to allow the sides and piles to caveA inwardly into the furrow over the moist sub-soil windrow 29 so as to restore the normal surface line of the eld.

The features which contribute principally to the success of the improved shoe are the Haring shelves 21 which provide positive support for the top soil at each side of the furrow, in combination with the earth sweeps 23 which cut longitudinally-extending notches of'sub-soil from the sides of the seed groove and form a windrow of moist sub-soil over the seed row while under the protection of the shelves. l

The mold-board prevent the top soil and the stubble-mulch froml falling into the furrow until the seeds have been completely covered by the moist sub-soil windrow 29. v

While a specific form of the improvement has been described and illustrated herein, it is to be understood that the same may be varied, within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired secured by Letters Patent is:

plates 20 serve a double function: first, they serve to rigidly support the shelves 21 and the earthsweeps 23; and second, they serve as retaining walls to 1. A seed planting shoe comprising: a substantially vertical seed tube having a seed-discharge passage formed'at the rear of its lower extremity; a plow point mounted on the front of the lower extremity of said seed tube to form a seed-receiving furrow; a mold-board plate secured to each side of said seed tube adjacent the bottom thereof, said mold-board plates extending rearwardly in vertical, spaced-apart relation; a pair oftriangular shelf plates,

3 each of said shelf plates having its base formed on the lower edge of one of said mold-board plates, with its apex directed laterally outward therefrom so as to form an outwardly and rearwardly extending front edge and an inwardly and rearwardly extending rearedge, said shelf which the incline of the lower edges of said earth sweeps plates being integral with the mold-board plates and joining the latter along a horizontal bend line; and an earth sweep formed integrally with each shelf plate and joining the latter on a bend line along the inwardly and rearwardly extending rear edge thereof, said earth sweeps bein'gsubstantially vertical, with their bottom edges inclining downwardly as their rear extremities are approached` to sweep earth from below said shelf plates inwardly into said furrow. 2. A seed planting shoe as described in claim 1 in corresponds to the incline of said shelf plates, and in' which the rear edges of said earth sweeps vertically align with the real edges of said mold-board plates.

References Cited in the le of this patent 

